'] malimi ; k n i s BALE. pra Innevative, Mana " Managers can. .. gies such as ; | rapid Uppiscgri 9 8 |: tions deve ment (RAD to: attract and mo- . iii opmeni per-. " sonnel. Among the bromki benefits of inno- NM ARTIN vative applica- a zeli ions-develop- ment methodolo- ' gies such as RAD is the ability to increase productivity and reduce turn- — over of development personnel. When key developers leave, productiv:. ity is harmed. In a typical organization /' with about 50 professionals, the recruit: ment of a new, skilled developer is like- .' ly to cost two months salary, and repli- ' cating the previous developer's skill lev: "el takes about three months. Training costs and moving costs must also be tak. en into account. in all, a turnover of 20 ČEN in ithe/' | organization costs about $150,000 annu- ally. This is just the cost reported by ac- k countants; the real cost is much higher" because nAkDELIČEH productivity , — The figure Gtoče the impact of turn:; over in a well-organized development -. shop that uses a traditional develop- ment life cycle with productivity tools. Mb KA, and fourth-generation languages. The or- " ganization spent about $3 million per "' ' between the development costs with month) was about $1 million annually:.': The hidden costs were even higher be- turnover impeded the introduction of . new efficiency measures and competi- tive business thrusts. This may have ate , per year. jobs. Developers enjoy using powerful : see their effect, as is the case in RAD . projects. Morale is often lowest on long, ' — target delivery date is not achievable. a bad situation. There i less of a chance that develop- € ers with a three-month life cycle will .. - - small, highly motivated construction — team are likely to avoid leaving in mid- [ (heir fellow team — Some IS organizations, however, have. | De a very high turnover. Tom DeMarco ar |. Timothy Lister, ai ometi Pe orje | : ware, Productive Projects and Teams," - say the typical turnover fi percent per year, with average employ'. | 3 year on this development; the difference k high turnover (11.5 function points per " ME: person-month) and those with low turn-": over (19.3 function points per person... cause slow development; caused by teb v fected earnings by another $1 million .; wi ver tends ta be naša, among na zeja dj ai ne x sis SER ISEL who are excited abouttheiri",' OE ol dj SOKA a Edi da Bl oze ii ia o ae ado paaei io za sn relies on nignevi, | imegrated tool sets coupled with management technigues designed to motivate members of the development team. tools and creating results fast enough to" drawn-out traditional life cycles where a High turnover on such projects Worsens S ' fig they en otuibeii ane from 89 Eat (O 60 Pe | pe from lb, to go pa kb Lu MEEKVAPPLIGATIOM DEVELOPNENI MIAACH 19, 1990 APPLIED INTELLIGENCE An important function of manage- ment in a RAD organization is to ensure | that developers are excited about their jobs. By giving them encouragement, re- wards, stimulation and pleasant work- ing conditions, REJ have pride in what they do. Some IS organizations treat, analysts and programmers as disposable parts. As a result, these employees lack a sense of loyalty and have no feeling of long-term involvement in the job. They - believe that the route to high salaries | is through job-hopping. Personnel Turnover Jeopardizes Productivity Development Statistics for 41 Projects Over a Five-Year Penod at Du Pont Fibers move ment, Wilmington, Del. Productivity (Measured in function points" per person per month) RI urnovef die Wj rate | SNI: —— In such an environment, turnover en: " genders turnover. Because people leave; | leave in mid-project than will those " 4 guickly, management; believes it is not . with a two-year life cycle. Members of že worth spending money on training. Asa ' result, such organizations have had diffi- |, eulty introducing integrated computer: /:' '.. project so that they do not disappolnt ' al - aided software (I-CASE) ''. eanbereii m e engineering. | , grammer to do something ablishing an environment . ai! LE that promotes high-speed development. — k A RAD organization makes invest- - development teams and keeps - together. It has a professional career ; path that allows the most proficient č | team members to rise to high salaries. It " e should recruit developers zbo čle to. roughy HALA si s 4 n develo a pers prog! ta junetlo t. prta ea io! oh ; unetion poln structured design. A new developer can ke easily understand and modify someone | elses design, since the design is highly ganization. M — graphical, easy to understand and easy to modify.- plex and difficult to understand; some programmers, therefore, do not want to - work with [-CASE tools. I-CASE tends to contact (in the United States and Can- , have a leveling effect: The brilliant de- the teams "veloper does better than the average de- 5 , veloper, but not 10 times better. Most in- gement Technigues Increase Productivity - Ina healthy RAD odlo pnent shop, , there is a conscious management effort - to lower turnover rates. If programming is an art, [CASE de- velopment is an engineering discipline. Programming reguires the handcrafting of code one line at a time. I"CASE tools, however, produce code automatically from graphical design specifications. The art and creativity in I-CASE de- velopment is not in devising code struc- tures but in thinking about how to im- prove the world of the user, sometimes fundamentally restructuring how infor- mation is handled. This rethinking of procedures reguires intelligent designers. The RAD methodology, however, does not reguire genius-level programmers. Instead, it relies on high-end, integrated tool sets coupled with management technigues designed to motivate mem- bers of the development team. Key de- velopment personnel should be inten- sively trained to use the best available tools and organized into small teams that can move with speed. People who are resistant to change should be avoided. Often the most pro- ductive programmers using older tech- nologies are the most resistant to the changes introduced by new life-cycle processes such as RAD. These people may be skilled in coding . with COBOL or PL/I, or they may have become acrobats using older productivi- ty-enhancement tools, such as ones that facilitate the generation of Customer In- formation Control System (CICS) trans- actions. But they often feel threatened by new, unfamiliar technology. They do not see how new technigues can enhance their job security and do not. want to take the risk of learning new technology. The Right Choice Individuals who adapt readily to the RAD life-cycle process are excited by the technology and strive for accom- plishment. They intuitively recognize the advantages—both to themselves and to the business—of efficient development tools and small, highly motivated devel- opment teams. They are eager to learn the new technigues and are willing to work hard in return for recognition and stay and should inje them feel that they are a special part of the organiza: tion. A good programmer can create three times as much bug-free code as the aver- age programmer—and a "genius" pro- grammer creates 10 times as much. The amount of code created by the least skilled programmer is much less than the amount created by an average programmer. The good programmer also often creates far more elegant program designs than the average programmer; the worst programmers make an unholy mess CASE tools change this situation, however, because they enforce well- h ctivily a ner eni d: sš zd. mi a High Medium pgsuting 4 o number ol way 0 Ze 1 the nih. lop pe!" ame Ee A ei diiaci bim Avakan a sense of accomplishment. | BRE TEA RN) a a, The RAD life cycle is highly depen- dent on the guality of the joint applica- tions design leader and the members of the construction team. These individuals must be chosen with care. While train- ing is a very important part of develop- ing the reguisite skills for a job, as with a sports team, you can't train just any- one to be a winner. You must select. the right people. Next, week I will discuss the manage- ment of cultural change within an IS or- The concepts embodied in RAD are de- serwbed tn a new volume in the James Martin Report Series. For more infor- mation on this volume, call (800) 242- | 1240. For information on seminars, There is less scope for a superb pro- ada) Technology Transfer Institute, | 741 10th St., Santa Monica, Calif. 90402 (213) 394-8305. In Europe, con- it analysts can become highly tact Savant, 2 New St., Carnforth, | kor with I-CASE tools and usually Lancs., LA5 9BX United Kingdom them fun to use. ( 0524) 734 505. O nee Me em SP ERENENNČI